Week 27 of Coffee with Captain saw some good news and bad news. The bad news is the markets got absolutely nuked.The good news is we had Luca Netz come on the Coffee with Captain and show us how the Pudgys continue to stack wins. We mixed in some takes on $BLAST season 2, Cool Cats abandoning web3 and the failure of DAOs. Definitely a crazy week. Stay strong and don’t capitulate!
In case you missed any of the shows, below is a small recap of each day with links to the podcast on Apple and Spotify. Links to other streaming platforms can be found on our buzzsprout page. Check out the timestamp if you want to catch the specific interviews.
Monday
Pudgy Penguins Waddle to a New Layer 2
Source: Reposted by @pudgypenguins on the X app
Abstract (formally Frame) is an EVM layer 2 (L2) that was acquired by Igloo Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins. Luca Netz joins the Coffee Crew to explain the acquisition and the rename of the blockchain. The Pudgy Penguin ecosystem is building a lot of products that are dependent on a L2. Netz states that building those products on a different L2 doesn’t seem advantageous for them. He also doesn’t believe that the majority of the L2 space is positioned to succeed, but Igloo Inc. is well positioned to be a leader in that space.
Luca thinks the Pudgy Penguin community, the ability to galvanize a group, their ability to build relationships and speak to other builders or all competitive advantages they have compared to projects. L2s with the most community, best culture and the most users via distribution are going to be the ones who win. Most of the L2s are marginally different, so these few differentiators will separate many of the L2s. In a couple months Luca said he’ll come back on the show when they can give a better look under the hood of what they’re building.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Tuesday
BAYC vs Pudgys + Project Communication
The Pudgy Penguins had another run up in their floor price. This sparked up some tension between small parts of the BAYC and Pudgy community. It does raise the question of “What is the perception of BAYC holders and BAYC PFPs on the X timeline?” There is still negative sentiment around BAYCs due to past experiences in 2021-2022. I still hear it in my circles. The worst thing would be for members of the Pudgy community to enter that same arc.The reality is that there are nasty people within all communities and that type of content is typically amplified on the X timeline.
Speaking of Pudgys, they are considered the top project when it comes to releasing updates for their holders. What’s the secret sauce? Luca is a mastermind when it comes to consumer products. Projects should be utilizing the tactics of the Pudgy Penguins when releasing communications and pushing out updates. They’re top tier at informing their community in a variety of ways (discord, X, Instagram, TikTok, etc.).
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Wednesday
$BLAST Craters with Season 2 Announcement
The saying used to go “don’t fade Pacman,” but that seems like it no longer holds true. The $BLAST token craters in price with the season 2 announcement. It looks like people are done with the Pacman ponzinomics, so maybe that actually means we should keep farming? I’ll probably continue to dabble, but not deeply. Blast seems to have lost the excitement around it and this seems bearish with the incoming number of layer 2s.
The Coffee Crew breaks down the Blast announcement. The good news is they’re incentivizing new users and there will be new gold distribution rules leading to more transparency. The bad news is $BLAST earns the same amount of points as $USDB. With $USDB earning an 8% yield on lending sites like Wasabi, what’s the incentive to hold $BLAST? If you want a quick summary, then check out Steve’s post on X.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Thursday
Cool Cats Abandon the Web3 Community
The Cool Cats project seems to be hard pivoting away from web3. Some people want to categorize the Cool Cats as a “rug project,” but really they’re just a failed business. They experimented with an ecosystem token ($MILK) and tried to gamify the ecosystem, but ultimately failed. One of the main things the Cool Cats accomplished was extracting liquidity from their community.
In fairness, Clon never really intended the project to be about PFPs, but Cool Cats got caught up in the 2021 NFT craze. The Cool Cats IP had the potential to become very recognizable in web3 and the team still fumbled the bag. Can it ever be revived? I highly doubt it. Steve shares some of his thoughts on an X post.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Friday
Bitcoin Crashes + Are DAOs Actually Broken?
The markets are bloody on Friday. Bitcoin continues to pullback with factors such as Mt Gox, the German government and more. There’s a lot of fear in the market, which typically is the best buying opportunity. How much longer can we “buy the dip” for though?
With the crash of Bitcoin comes a pullback of alt coins like $APE. The Banana Bill passed, but the original $105M $APE has already been reduced from $100M to around $70M worth at current prices. Approximately 98% of the ApeCoin DAO’s reserves are in $APE with the other 2% in USDC. Has there been a mismanagement of ApeCoin DAO funds or are DAOs inherently broken? Even if the market recovers, the reality is $APE will need more token sinks to reverse this downward trend. Today was a good discussion around ApeCoin DAO and DAOs in general.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Wrap Up
That wraps up week 27 of Coffee with Captain. Friday was one we’ll look to quickly forget as Bitcoin tanks. We’re still encouraged by the group of builders in the web3 space and all the community members walking alongside us. Thanks for all your support through market ups and downs. We’ll continue to be here and bring you web3 news! If you missed week 26, make sure to check it out here.
Be sure to check out:
- The Everything Token: A Book on Web3 and NFTs
- Making Coffee: Our Official Coffee Partner
- Pepecoin: The Original Pepe
- ENS: Ethereum Naming Service
